Abstract: A keyboard, in particular a POS (point of sale, point of service) keyboard, bank keyboard, keyboard for secure data entry, and a method for secure transmission of data that is entered through various data entry modules such as, e.g., magnetic card readers, chip card readers, key switches, or a keypad, to an external device connected to the keyboard, for example a computer. The keyboard comprises at least one data entry module for entering data and a keyboard control device with at least one receiving device for receiving the entered data, an encryption device for encrypting the received data by means of an encryption algorithm, wherein the encryption algorithm is present in the form of program code, and a transmission device for transmitting the data encrypted by the encryption means to the external device connected to the keyboard control device, wherein the encryption algorithm can be selected by the user from multiple predefined encryption algorithms and associated with the data entry module.

Abstract: A keypad, particularly a point of sale keypad, is disclosed that includes a key block, a microprocessor, at least one read-only memory, in which the firmware required for operating the keypad is stored, and at least one interface for connecting the keypad to an external device. Further, a method is disclosed for starting up the keypad and for replacing or updating the keypad firmware. So that it is usually not necessary to open the keypad to replace or update the firmware, the invention proposes providing at least one programmable read-only memory in the keypad, in which a boot program and the firmware are stored in separate memory areas, and in such a way that the first memory area containing the boot program cannot be erased during normal operation of the keypad.